The evolution of reciprocal altruism probably involved the evolution of mechanisms to detect cheating and remember cheaters. In a well-known study, Mealey, Daood, and Krage (1996) observed that participants had enhanced memory for faces that had previously been associated with descriptions of acts of cheating. There were, however, problems with the descriptions that were used in that study. We sought to replicate and extend the findings of Mealey and colleagues by using more controlled descriptions and by examining the possibility of enhanced altruist recognition. We also examined whether individual differences in cheating tendencies were related to cheater and altruist recognition. In the first experiment, 164 undergraduates saw 40 faces that were paired with character descriptions representing the categories
of cheater, trustworthy, altruist, or neutral, for individuals who had either
low or high social status. One week later participants reported which faces they
recognized from the previous week (among 80 faces). Overall, the results failed to
replicate the findings of Mealey and her colleagues, as there was no enhanced memory
for cheaters. In addition, there was no enhanced memory for altruists, and no effect
of participants’ cheating tendencies. A second experiment using a slightly different
methodology produced similar results, with some evidence for enhanced memory
for altruists.